Australia raises jailed academic case with Iran

Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies, has been held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran since September 2018. She was arrested at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference.

New Delhi: Australia's foreign minister said on Thursday she had raised with her Iranian counterpart the fate of an imprisoned Australian-British academic after a report that the woman had urged the Australian government to help free her.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne declined to detail her conversation with Mohammad Javad Zarif about convicted academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert on the sidelines of a global leadership conference in India.

"This is not a detention that we support. We don't accept the charges," Payne told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in New Delhi.

Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies, has been held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran since September 2018.

She was arrested at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference.

She was convicted of spying and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A recent appeal was rejected.

Payne also said she told Zarif that Australia supports a "full and transparent" investigation into the shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner over Iran.